[bgill]

Just a few minutes ago, FOX announced they were no longer able to get water to #4.

[SeekAndFind]

For the science geeks out there.... here is the latest from Japan in terms of radiation strength...

* The Tokyo Metropolitan Government and other local authorities surrounding Japan’s capital city said Tuesday they have detected higher-than-normal radiation levels, but the amounts aren’t enough to cause immediate harm to the human body.

* They measured a radiation level of 0.809 microsievert per hour in the Shinjuku district in the western part of the city center at around 10 a.m. local time, about 23 times higher than normal. By late in the day it had fallen to 0.0682 microsevert an hour. The usual daily average is around 0.035 microsevert an hour.

* In Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, the radiation level hit as high as 0.212 microsievert per hour around 7 a.m., according to the Kanagawa Prefectural Government. But the level had fallen to around 0.1 microsievert per hour at around noon.

* The recorded level is a fraction of the 600 microsieverts that a human body receives from one x-ray.

* Exposure at the upper end of the range, at 400 millisievert, is equivalent to 40 rem. A single dose of 25 rem can cause temporary sterility in men. One hundred rems can cause radiation sickness and 500 rems likely will cause death. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission limits the exposure of U.S. nuclear workers to no more than five rem per year.

[Uncle Ike]

” Japanese officials appeared to have regained some control of northeast Japan’s troubled nuclear power plant “

Personally, I’d feel better if it was the Engineers and Operators that had ‘regained some control’....

[kidd]

Radiation levels in downtown Tokyo—which had also risen earlier Tuesday, though they remained well below levels that could damage human health—also fell sharply later in the day.

Irrelevant. Prevailing winds have been such that Tokyo is upwind of the nuclear plants. With all the widespread destruction in Tokyo (granite dust is very mildly radioactive), and with people burning coal to stay warm (coal is very mildly radioactive), it is unlikely that the source of minor radiation spikes are from the nuke plants. But the article fails to mention that.

[DakoKid]

The No. 4 reactor was also out of operation, but officials said its spent fuel storage pond had caught fire, ignited by a hydrogen gas explosion. It's the Cuyahoga River all over again?

[chimera]

This is what I get on the IAEA newsfeed:

UPDATE AS OF 10:20 A.M. EDT, TUESDAY, MARCH 15:

The level of radioactivity at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been decreasing, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

At 8 p.m. EDT March 15, a dose rate of 1,190 millirem per hour was observed. Six hours later, the dose rate was 60 millirem per hour, IAEA said.

About 150 residents near the Fukushima Daiichi site have been checked for radiation and 23 have been decontaminated.

Japanese authorities have distributed potassium iodide tablets to evacuation center (see this page for more information on potassium iodide). If taken within several hours of ingesting radioactive iodine, potassium iodide can protect the thyroid gland.

UPDATE AS OF 9:15 A.M. EDT, TUESDAY, MARCH 15:

Fukushima Daiichi

Units 1 and 3 at Fukushima Daiichi are stable and cooling is being maintained through seawater injection. Primary containment integrity has been maintained on both reactors.

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) reported an explosion in the suppression pool at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2, at 7:14 p.m. EDT on March 14. Reactor water level was reported to be at 2.7 meters below the top of the fuel. The pressure in the suppression pool decreased from 3 atmospheres to 1 atmosphere. Radiation readings at the site increased to 96 millirem per hour.

Dose rates at Fukushima Daiichi as reported at 10:22 p.m. EDT on March 14 were:

* Near Unit 3 reactor building 40 rem/hr
* Near Unit 4 reactor building 10 rem/hr
* At site boundary 821 millirem/hr.
* Kitaibaraki (200 km south of site) 0.4 millirem/hr.

We are working on getting updated information on radiation and dose rates at and near the plant.

Station personnel not directly supporting reactor recovery efforts have been evacuated, leaving approximately 50 staff members at the site. Operators are no longer in the main control room due to high radiation levels.

Safety relief valves were able to be re-opened and seawater injection into the reactor core was restarted around 1 a.m. EDT on March 15 and is continuing.

At Unit 4 on March 14 at approximately 8:38 p.m. EDT, a fire was reported in the reactor building. It is believed to have been from a lube oil leak in a system that drives recirculation water pumps. Fire fighting efforts extinguished the fire. The roof of the reactor building was damaged.

Fukushima Daini

All four reactors at Fukushima Daini are being maintained with normal cooling using residual heat removal systems.